Day 14, Post Op Fontan (May 1)

Just another day in paradise....

Eli's incision has a "lump" that is red.  Sara & Dr. Abarbanell didn't like the way it looked so they were going to have Dr. Abraham look at it for possible drainage and irrigation.  After they left and before he got here, we had PT.  Eli walked quite a bit and got a wagon ride.  When it was over we came back in the room and were persuading him to use a bench to climb up onto the couch.  In the process of holding his oxygen tank, telemetry box, other monitors and helping him keep his balance, his chest tube got pulled out.  It didn't seem to hurt him but we had to move quickly to get it covered because it is an opening into his lung cavity and could possibly collapse his lung if not taken care of.  Sara was still on the floor and she was in the room in no time.  She got it covered and they'll do an xray in the morning to determine if he needs another one placed or if he can handle the fluid on his own. 

Later, Dr. Abraham came by to look at the incision.  He thinks it's infected in that area but doesn't think it's very deep.  He debated just doing it at bedside, but because it's in the area of the pacer wires he wants to take Eli to the OR in the morning so he can clean it out really well.  That way if it turns out to be deeper than he thinks it is, he can deal with it properly.  Also, the chest xray will be done prior to going to the OR so they'll know if they need to place a new chest tube or not. 

So Eli will not have anything to eat or drink after 11pm.  He's scheduled for the OR at 7am.  It should only take about 5 minutes but Dr. Abraham wants to be prepared in case he needs to do more.  If they place a chest tube it will be another 15 minutes or so.  Then he'll go to recovery and back up here to his room.  

In addition to those issues, his PICC line is being troublesome.  There are times when it won't flush at all and it varies from lumen to lumen (he has a double lumen).  We were worried that it was clotting off, but that would be a little surprising since he's only had it for a week.  Not unheard of, but a little surprising.  Throughout the day we've decided it's just positional.  That means the end of it where the fluid/medicine/flush would exit is next to the wall of a vessel or next to a valve that closes it off.  Nothing majorly wrong with that but a pain in the keister (yes, I looked up the correct spelling).  It could potentially be an issue when we have him home and are trying to administer his antibiotics.  We'll worry later. 

Sooooo, that's been our day.  That and the occasional low grade fever they are accounting to the infection along his incision.  We'll let you know in the morning how he's doing!  Sorry this post doesn't have much more info, but it's only 4:30 and it's been a long day.  We've been here for two weeks now and are about to hand our son over to be put to sleep for the fourth time.  I'm upset that his chest tube came out, upset that it came out on my watch, and sad that he just flat out doesn't feel well.  

Brighter news, Bryan's back at the hospital with us and Eli was glad to see his Daddy.  He even smiled at Bryan an couple times.  It was so precious to see that.  

Please pray for Eli as he has another procedure (or two!) in the morning!